Newsletter Xagena

Prenatal exposure to Paracetamol and children's language development

A study has examined prenatal Paracetamol ( Acetaminophen [ N-acetyl-p-aminophenol ]; APAP ) exposure in relation to language development in offspring at 30 months of age.

A population-based pregnancy cohort study including 754 women who enrolled in the Swedish Environmental Longitudinal, Mother and child, Asthma and allergy ( SELMA ) study in pregnancy week 8–13.
Two exposure measures were used: (1) maternally reported number of Paracetamol tablets taken between conception and enrollment; (2) APAP urinary concentration at enrollment.
Language development at 30 months was assessed by nurse's evaluation and parental questionnaire, including the number of words the child used ( less than 25, 25–50 and more than 50 ).

Paracetamol was measurable in all urine samples and urinary Paracetamol was correlated with the number of Paracetamol taken during pregnancy ( P less than 0.01 ).

Language delay was more prevalent in boys ( 12.6% ) than girls ( 4.1% ) ( 8.5% in total ). Both the number of Paracetamol tablets and urinary Paracetamol concentration were associated with greater language delay in girls but not in boys.

In conclusion, given the prevalence of prenatal Paracetamol use and the importance of language development, these findings, if replicated, would suggest that pregnant women should limit their use of this analgesic during pregnancy. ( Xagena )